On Friday, Representative, Luis Gutierrez threatened to support a government shutdown if the House of Representatives fails to pass its own version of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to prevent the deportation of thousands of young immigrants, brought to the US as minors
At a press conference, Gutierrez said the majority of Democratic caucus members are ready to say that there is no US government for anyone if there is no way forward for the current 800,000 recipients of DACA and other immigrant youth, in terms of the Dream Act and US visas. The comments followed the announcement from Attorney General, Jeff Sessions that the Trump administration would end the DACA program in six months, a move that has outraged both civil rights groups and Democrats.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a bi-partisan spending package to give aid to the victims of the Hurricane Harvey disaster, which also raised the debt ceiling, and gave another three months of funding to the government. With this stop-gap measure set to end in December, Gutierrez hopes to see an immigration bill passed by then.
Gutierrez says that if the coming Christmas does not provide joy for everyone then it will provide joy to no one. His approach is backed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and most of the progressive caucus, according to Representative, Raul Grijalva. A measure to give legal status to DACA recipients has also been introduced in the Senate by Senators, Lindsey Graham, and Dick Durbin.
